Traditional art and sketching

Peruse our Sketching from the Imagination series, start your own sketch journal, or try your hand at clay sculpting! If you’re a complete beginner looking for a new hobby, or even an experienced artist looking for inspiration and workflow insights, our traditional art and sketching resources have plenty to offer!

3D digital art

Covering a wide variety of software and approaches, our books, magazines, and eBooks are there to offer you the support and motivation you need. Whether you want to sculpt a monster in ZBrush or create a stylized character in 3ds Max, take a look at our range to start your next project!

Issue 03 of Total magazine focuses on the theme of characters, including tutorials from Randy Bishop, Denis Zilber, and Brun Croes to help you hone your character design skills. So, get stuck in and see what characters we can help you create in the issue!

Welcome to total magazine issue two! This month’s focus is squarely on anatomy, with a mix of traditional, 2D, and 3D tutorials to get stuck into. So polish those tools, crack your fingers, and refine that muscle definition or nail that pose!

In the very first issue you will be treated to an introduction to the 3dtotal team, and an insight into some of the projects we are working on at the moment. Additionally you can enjoy some of our sci-fi themed articles and tutorials which we hope will help take your own work to the next step.

Another month, another issue packed with great content! This time we’re catching up with great character and concept artists like Marco Plouffe, Elijah McNeal and Ran Manolov, whose work and words are sure to get your mind buzzing with inspiration. If you’re interested in mobile apps, we take a look at a great project by Jeremy Kool.

Beginner’s Guide to Character Creation in Maya continues 3dtotal’s tradition of offering helpful guides for beginners looking to step into the world of digital art. Talented 3D Animator and Trainer, Jahirul Amin, gives an insightful breakdown of how to model from scratch using Maya and Mudbox. Not only will you learn about the principles of rigging and animation, with a step-by-step guide detailing how to link the joints and create constraints and controls for animation, you will also learn how to correctly light and render your scene for porfolio-worthy presentation. Plus, in-depth chapters on anatomy will provide you with a solid foundation on which to develop your 3D character skills, so that by the end of this book you will have created your very own realistic walk cycle.

Senior Environment Artist at Codemasters, Andrew Finch, reveals how to make playable levels for games using the Unreal Development Kit (UDK). Whether you are looking to create a stunning portfolio piece or just fancy trying something new, this step-by-step project guide will give you a fantastic grounding in the UDK to set you on the right foot for your future game-creation adventures!

Camilo Duarte Franco, a feature film animator at MPC, reveals how to create convincing character movement, including walking, climbing stairs, running and jumping, 'sneak' movements and pushing weight. In this six-chapter e-book you'll discover detailed industry standard techniques plus helpful downloadable video tutorials to further explain the software processes and pro tips for you to apply to your own work.

This month, it is time to get started on some exciting new projects! Learn how to create a strong basis for your images with previz guidance to help you develop photoreal scenes and classic cars. You can also find out how to turn your photographs into perfect tillable textures with our guide to creating a texture library.

The Unreal games engine is a hugely versatile system that has been used to power a variety of best-selling video games. In The Unreal Game Engine, environment artist Andrew Finch looks at how to create game levels from scratch using the free Unreal Development Kit, starting with modeling the environment. He then addresses the two different ways in which you can create accessories for your scene – modeling in 3ds Max and importing them, or creating them directly in UDK – before adding textures and lighting. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be a level designer and wanted some practical experience, then look no further than The Unreal Game Engine.

Art fundamentals are the bread and butter of any artist and a clear understanding of the various elements is essential when it comes to producing a successful piece of work. Art Fundamentals addresses a number of key basic subjects such as color and light, composition, perspective and depth, and anatomy in a series of insightful chapters. Written by some of the most experienced artists in the games and film industries.